AFC coaches who faced him each praised Love

The coaches breakfast at the owners meetings isn’t really breakfast but it is the one time each year when every coach is available to the media. The AFC coaches were Monday morning (the NFC was Tuesday), and that group included four who faced Love last season: Las Vegas’ Antonio Pierce, Denver’s Sean Payton, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin and Reid.

It’s worth pointing out that Love faced three of those teams in October during a stretch when he and the Packers’ young pass-catching corps struggled for first downs let alone putting anything up on the scoreboard.

The Packers averaged only 16.3 points in October losses to the Raiders, Broncos and Steelers.

Still, all were aware of what Love did the second half of the season in leading the Packers to the playoffs and a win at Dallas in the wild-card round. Each also mentioned something different about Love.

Pierce brought up Love’s ability to throw from different arm angles from that game. Pierce was Las Vegas’ defensive coordinator at the time but later became its interim coach and then had the interim title removed this offseason.

“I’m glad we played them early and he was struggling,” Pierce said, “because at the end of the season, he was a problem. He’s mobile, he’s athletic, does a hell of a job with accuracy throwing off platform. You could see at the end of the season the confidence he was playing with. He was extremely good. Obviously as he played well, the team played well with him, along with the running game.”

Payton, who is among the most respected offensive coaches in the league, was New Orleans Saints coach in 2020 when Love came out in the draft. He said Love’s physical stature (6-foot-4, 219) caught his eye when the teams played in Denver in October.

Love had a chance to win that game, needing only a field goal, but on backto-back plays threw an incompletion behind an open Christian Watson and then underthrew a desperation pass downfield on third-and-20 that was intercepted with a little less than 2 minutes left in the game.

“What I remember, right off the top of my head, man, he’s bigger than I remember when I evaluated him,” Payton said. “But I think he’s playing well, playing with confidence.”

And Tomlin said Love’s athleticism jumped out in their game.

“I just thought he’s a very talented and capable guy,” Tomlin said of Love. “First time being in the stadium with him, he’s got an awesome skillset. His mobility is a component that maybe I underestimated. He’s in a good situation there, and they’re in a good situation with him.”

Love had advantage of watching Rodgers for three seasons

In the middle of his answer about Love, Payton mused about the Packers being proactive in drafting a first-round quarterback while Rodgers was still their starter. It’s still rare in this league for a team to spend a first-round pick at that position when it already has a good one, even if older. But the Packers have now done it back to back with Rodgers drafted to succeed Brett Favre, and Love to succeed Rodgers.

Payton reportedly was interested in drafting Mahomes in 2017 to succeed Drew Brees, but the Chiefs jumped to No. 10 overall, one pick ahead of the Saints, to take him.

The Chiefs then sat Mahomes for one season – not three like the Packers did with Rodgers and then Love – before making him the starter.

But Payton called the experience of sitting and observing a quality starter “invaluable” for a highly drafted quarterback.

“There’s an education beyond just the head coach and the coordinator and the quarterback coach,” Payton said. “There’s this model of ‘Hey, this is how the week goes.’ And yet, there are times when you don’t have that luxury.”

To that final point, on rare occasions when a team does it and it works – Steve McNair, for instance, was a backup for the Houston/Tennessee franchise for two years before becoming a successful starter – there’s talk around the league about how smart it is. But then nobody else does it because it means spending a high pick on a player who won’t help the current quarterback win.

Zac Taylor, the Cincinnati Bengals coach, was blunt as to why.

“A part of that is your belief you’re going to be there. As a general manager or head coach, that’s a hard decision to make nowadays, looking down the road several years when human nature is what’s best for us right now. To have the foresight to do that and be in a position to do that is an interesting position to be in. More power to (the Packers) for how it’s worked out for them.”